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User blog:SpyTec/Discussion of ideas and structure for all editors
So as I've not been able to edit the wiki that much lately, been mostly focusing on other things, I've not really had a time to do this properly. But I figured this is as good time as any. Structure As of right now, we haven't set out any guidelines on how articles should be structured, nor have we set up any guidelines on what pages should consist of. So I would like to have a discussion with avid editors and visitors at some point on what is good and what is bad, for us to eventually create articles about it. I'd think that we should have this discussion on the forum in a short while, and to which I recommend people to come up with small drafts (just to get a general idea of what it should contain, doesn't have to be gramatically or structurally correct) to put forth in the thread. FAQ When it comes to the FAQ, it needs to be re-structured and re-worked fully. This includes making subpages of game mechanics and various other sections and having the main FAQ be on some basic information and link them to subpages. Because of how it is structured right now, editing it is a right out pain because of the size of it. It doesn't help that the article itself is indented everywhere and doesn't include links in a good way. And the article is also heavily outdated in some parts. Front Page This is also one of the things I'd like to rework on. We can make it better. It's not bad as it is right now, but adding links is one of the things that is difficult to fit with the rest of the page as it relies on images & JavaScript rather than CSS classes. I'd also like to see this page get improved in the sense of making it seem less cluttered, improving the style, adding icons to more things. I'd also like to discuss about what to actually include on the front page. Should there be information as it is now? Should we have featured things? Should we make it more updated through subpages? Include polls or top 10s? In any case, I'd want to get and idea of how it should look like, what it should include (this includes sidebar) and what we think both new and veteran commanders would like to see. Ideas Lore I'm going to start of the lore-section discussing in-game characters (mentions in lore, appearances in GalNet, Powerplay powers, etc.). So what we have now is more or less a short description of the character, an infobox on when they were born, where they live and if possible a photo of them. Below those two we have a history page on what they've done and further below that we have a Navbox for Key people. Now the navbox can be filled up quite heavily if we would fill out more on every possible character ever mentioned I think, so how would that be solved in a nice manner if the situation would ever arise? Same goes for just on how to improve the pages in general. They are quite outdated in the terms of history, as they might not be updated for months before someone goes on the article and edits it. The infobox for powers is also quite outdated and misused. I included the Command Capital for total, used and available in the sidebar, and I started updated it manually. After getting a bot up and running I ran it for a few weeks and it would automatically include increase, decrease and nochange templates to show how they progressed since previous powerplay cycle. However, this has also gone under the rug as I couldn't run the bot anymore due to moving. So how exactly would one solve the powerplay stuff and characters in general? Can it be automated, if so, how? I'd also like to see how we can improve on events within the game. Especially since I think we can be a good source of history within the game, such as for The War for Lugh, the events that took place there and generally on why it happened. On this topic, I'd like to see what you all think should include on the page, what should be in the infobox and if any other templates should be added to increase the quality of the articles. Some other Wikias have great templates, but none I've found that really fits when it comes to these sorts of things. Ships I would like to see that we improve the ships articles more, as those are the most viewed articles on the wiki. Would you all think that decreasing the font size and line height of the tables in general should be good to make everything fit better? This should improve the scrolling tables on the Ships page and also the Equipment section over at individual ship articles. On top of that, I've tried integrating the Equipment section in some way in the infobox. If this was made possible I think we could automate a lot of information in the sidebar as well, including jump range, fuel capacity and possibly more information. But would that include too many variables in the infobox when editing? And if it was done, it would mean we have to port all the existing infoboxes into the new ones as it would be orientated around equipment rather than the on-sheets data. Oh and what exactly is good to have on a ship infobox, is the maximum/upgraded version section any good? Could it be replaced with something else? And would it be better to do it in another way, such as having it be automatically hidden and make it show when clicking on a + symbol on the infobox? And now when it comes to the equipment itself, if we don't integrate it to the infobox, we somehow make it a template to use that would improve the styling with icons, make everything show better and include more flexibility than relying on tables. But the question here is what would it need to contain in order to be good? If we would include customization, as we have JavaScript functionality, what customization should be available to not overwhelm the visitor or make it seem complicated etc.? Templates I will start of by asking something. What should be done about the CelestialInfobox? It is currently used for all planets, stars, etc. and I'm starting to wonder if we should split it into more infoboxes or if we should have it as it is. It's currently not ported to the Infoboxbuilder and it doesn't include any programming magic with Lua due to the fact that the template is a bit complex and I want to make sure we get everything right the first time to make it easier to edit in the future. Now, should we also have templates for relationships between family members, council of admiral members, etc. using the template from Wikipedia that displays a chart for the relations between objects. The templates are available on the Fallout Wikia, but it seems like it's split into a lot of subpages that would make a pain to export from their wiki and import on ours. But apart from this template, are there others that could make it in to the wiki as a whole to improve readability and make articles more aestetically pleasing? It feels like it's just a big ramble, but I'm hoping someone will be able to understand what things I'm trying to discuss at least Category:Blog posts Category:Site maintenance